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Charles Clifford Potter (1942-1992)
in Sylvania, Screven County, Georgia |Baptism = |Death = in Auburn, Lee County, Alabama |Father = Clifford Claude Potter |Mother = Mae Wilson Powell |Spouse = Private |Marriage = at Wades Baptist Church, Cooperville (Dover post office), Screven County, Georgia |2nd Spouse = |2nd Marriage = |3rd Spouse = |3rd Marriage = |4th Spouse = |4th Marriage = |5th Spouse = |5th Marriage = |Burial = Memorial Park Cemetery, Auburn, Lee County, Alabama }} Charles Clifford Potter was a successful public administrator and philanthropist in Lee County, Alabama. Reared on his parents' farm near Sylvania, Georgia, he would marry his first-grade sweetheart at her family's long-time church. He was an alumnus of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and a graduate of Georgia Southern University. He was, for a time (mid-1960s), employed in logistics for Beaunit Fibers in Elizabethton, Tennessee. Afterwards, he moved to Auburn, Alabama, to take charge of logistics for Diversified Products Corporation, an Opelika, Alabama, company owned by future Alabama governor Fob James. He would go on from there to be Director of the Opelika Housing Authority in Lee County, Alabama, where he served with great distinction, even leading the OHA to receive a National Award for Performance from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1988. He was also twice honored by the Alabama State Legislature as an honorary Colonel in the "Alabama Militia", a symbolic gesture to honor his leadership with the Alabama Association of Housing and Redevelopment Authorities. A great lover of trains, he collected a multitude of train collectibles and even constructed a railroad landscape that circles an entire room in his house at about 5 feet off the floor, complete with a pivoting section to allow entry without having to bend over. It includes electrified tracks, buildings, hills, valleys, bushes, trees and even rivers crossed by bridges, all personally created and painted by Charles and his friends. The house itself is located within 100 yards of an actual railroad track. He also loved collecting and cultivating azaleas, rooting some from mere cuttings to the full plants that even now continue to flourish on his property in Auburn. A frequent visitor of Callaway Gardens, he had many times proclaimed that this naturalistic garden of azaleas was modeled after the well-known resort destination. Charles is still sorely missed by his family since he succumbed to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma over 16 years ago. The Opelika Unit of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Lee County was named the Potter-Daniel Unit in his honor due to his efforts to secure grant funding for that unit and for providing housing for the club. It still serves as a lasting legacy to all he did for the less fortunate citizens of Lee County. Children |- |colspan="3" bgcolor="#FFfce0" style="color: #000000;" |'Children of Charles Clifford Potter and Private' |- Gallery CharlesCliffordPotter19421992.JPG|Charles Potter as Director of the Opelika Housing Authority - c. 1985 Meredithandwillettewithkidsandspouses.JPG|Charles Potter (left) with his wife and in laws (mother and father-in-law seated) (c. 1988) References *Daughter (name withheld by request). Personal knowledge. *Potter, Mary Ann Robinson. Email received on July 7, 2009. *Potter, Mary Ann Robinson. Personal documents. *Potter, Mary Ann Robinson. Personal knowledge. Category:Potter (surname) Potter, Charles Clifford Potter, Charles Clifford Potter, Charles Clifford Potter, Charles Clifford Category:Non-SMW people articles